the cost of war projected at brown university puts the current cost of the iraq war at $1.7 trillion. and estimates that total expenses will soar to $6 trillion over the next 40 years. now the lasting effect of the conflict and the misleading information that was used to justify it is still being felt today in washington. as our first read team points out, the iraq war is the most consequential political event of the past ten years, and probably beyond. joining me now, nbc news foreign correspondent. we have michael smerconish, military analyst general barry mccaffrey, and the first iraq war veteran to serve in congress. let's start with you here, general. as we look at what's happening at the moment, these attacks in shiite districts largely believed to be linked to suny militants, linked to al qaeda. what would you say the magazine any to do of the situation is? >> compared to the mayhem that was going on during the fighting for fallujah, it is relatively moderate. what we have going on in iraq now is the shia plurality, dominating a government and trying to dominate the kurds and t